VSN Presents: S94 VHLM Playoff Preview

[McLovin 466]

(graphic maybe pending)

VSN Presents: S94 VHLM Playoff Preview

 

Welcome dear readers to yet another edition of VSN, where today we at VSN are going to give you a VHLM playoff preview, predicting the entirety of the playoffs and who your eventual Founder’s Cup Champion will be! Last season was pretty close, and we at VSN have put our full weight and experience into these predictions this season too! Without further ado, let’s take a look at how the VHLM Playoffs will (maybe) go!

 

First Round:

 

 Halifax 21st (1st) vs. Philadelphia Reapers (8th)

 

A rematch from last season’s first round, Halifax absolutely exploded as the forerunner and favorite to win the cup early in the season, and when you look at the stats, it’s hard to see why not. Out the gate, they led the league in both goals for and against, scoring 277 and only letting up 127. Having a goal differential of a whopping 150 is a great sign that you have a system that works, and GM @LucyXpher has built an absolute powerhouse in Halifax. When your two centers in Robin Sierra @ethanjaeda & Ty Duke @TheDuke both put up over or almost 100 point seasons each, you have a strong system to build off of offensively for sure! Not to mention the elite two-way defensive play of Dustin Moore @Maxx and the incredible season starting goalie Jon Webber III @Webberj had with them, it’s hard to see how Philadelphia can match the energy and intensity Halifax will bring to the playoffs out the gate. 

 

Prediction: Halifax in 4

 

VSN Vote: 5 Halifax, 3 Philadelphia

 

 Mexico City Kings (4th) vs. Houston Bulls (5th)

 

This is likely the closest series to predict when you look at what both of these teams bring to the table. Houston is one of the best goal scoring teams in the league, while Mexico City is the second best defensive team in the league, only behind Halifax in goals against (and not by much!) The story of this series will absolutely be whether rookie goaltender Dustin Wolf @ElementStyx9 can hold back the firepower of Houston, and when you go up against 4 players who scored nearly or well over 30 goals in the regular season, you certainly have your work cut out for you. That’s not to say the defense of Mexico City with the Samsayz I-Smell @CaptainSB leading the way won’t make it a more competitive series however, and VSN predicts that the firepower will be matched by Mexico City’s defense, and Kings overcome the odds and move onto the second round!

 

Prediction: Mexico City in 6

 

VSN Vote: Mexico City 6, Houston 2

 

 Saskatoon Wild (3rd) vs. Mississauga Hounds (7th)

 

Up next in our playoff preview, we have quite the interesting matchup between Saskatoon and Mississauga. The offense of Saskatoon cannot be overlooked whatsoever in this matchup. Jacob Longstreet @Dynamicmlb_42 alone had an absolutely insane 133 points this season, including 65 goals! Jerry Box @barryst had over an assist per game, with 75 assists on top of his 42 goals in the regular season proving to be a playmaking machine for the Wild. Captain Nugget Jr @Captain nugget was another elite winger, nearly putting up 100 points himself in his second full year of VHLM competition, a whopping 76 point improvement from his last showing! Third year Mich Cederbaum @MicahC also put up 94 points, with 54 assists and 40 goals to show on top of his very physical and well rounded game! The reason this whole segment was spent discussing the individual seasons forwards on the Wild had was that I don’t see a way Mississauga will be able to hold this back. Rostering only a single defenseman and a 104 TPA goalie, unless a defensive miracle occurs or the Hounds offense is able to match the forward core of Saskatoon, this is going to be a quick series in mine and VSN’s opinion. 

 

Prediction: Saskatoon in 5

 

VSN Vote: Saskatoon 5, Mississauga 3

 

 Miami Marauders (2nd) vs. San Diego Marlins (6th) 

 

Onto our final matchup of the first round, we have Miami facing off against San Diego. This would be a much closer series than I think a lot of people would give it credit for. While the Marauders are an elite team, with some of the best goal scoring and defensive numbers of the regular season, San Diego is right there to match in almost all of those metrics. While Miami has Tim Robinson @Tim Robinson & Phil Sakic @Phil with their near 100 point seasons, San Diego has Nicholas Sunderbruch Jr @NickSunderbruch with his 86 point season, and the absolute wall that is Spider Panda @Ricer13 in net to match. This is going to be a ridiculously close series, and this playoff matchup just goes to show that as long as you’re not in the bottom two of the league standings (looking at you Las Vegas) and are able to make the playoffs, anybody has the chance to be competitive and a series and potentially a name for themselves in the history books. Despite this, it is VSN’s prediction that Miami gets the edge over San Diego and pulls ahead into the second round!

 

Prediction: Miami in 7

 

VSN Vote: Miami 5, San Diego 3

 

Second Round:

 

Onto the second round, you’ll notice that the four remaining teams are all teams who finished in the top 4 of the regular season standings, which means we’re getting the absolute best of the best going into head to head matchups. This will certainly provide some interesting story lines and great entertainment to the fans of these franchises! Let’s take a look at how this will likely go!

 

 Halifax 21st (1st) vs. Mexico City Kings (4th)

 

When facing off against a juggernaut like Halifax, you look at the Mexico City Kings and see where they might be able to pull ahead of the 21st in individual metrics. If we were to cover how Halifax had an incredible SEVEN players with over 70 point seasons in the regular season, we’d be here all day, so it’s worth it to note that Dustin Wolf has had a remarkably strong season in his short time with the Kings, and given that he has helped propel Mexico City up to this point past one of the best offensive teams in the league in round one, it’s easy to say that he might be able to do it again. Whether it be fatigue or just an overwhelming amount of shots against, VSN predicts that the wall will unfortunately crumble however, and that Halifax’s sheer firepower will be too great to overcome for the young starter. The 21st will dominate the Kings across the board, and walk away with yet another sweep in the playoffs on their path to the Founder’s Cup Final!

 

Prediction: Halifax in 4

 

VSN Vote: Halifax 6, Mexico City 1

 

 Miami Marauders (2nd) vs. Saskatoon Wild (3rd)

 

This will be by far the closest series in this round, and with how nearly identical the two teams are in a head to head comparison, it’s incredibly difficult to determine who would pull ahead in this hypothetical matchup. The aforementioned regular seasons the likes of Robinson and Sakic had will definitely contribute to the Marauders goal scoring yet again in this series, while Spider Panda looks to lock down the crease and prevent the Wild’s lethal offense from squeaking on through. With Longstreets remarkable 133 point season, as well as the other 3 forwards mentioned earlier having near or over 100 point seasons, it’s important to note the point scoring difference between the 4th and 5th highest scorer on the team. While Cederbaum put up 94 points, the next highest point total was by a defenseman with only 47 points. This provides evidence that the Saskatoon Wild are a bit of a top heavy team, but by the grace of Austin Goulet III’s @Tuchy performance, this obstacle may be overcome, and the Wild may be on their way to their second Finals appearance in the same amount of seasons!

 

Prediction: Saskatoon in 7

 

VSN Vote: Saskatoon 5, Miami 2

 

Founder’s Cup Final

 

 Halifax 21st (1st) vs. Saskatoon Wild (3rd)

 

This is the perfect Founder’s Cup Final matchup in my humble opinion, it genuinely can’t get better than this. This is David vs. Goliath, this is the greatest Finals one could ask for. The incredible individual numbers of Saskatoon vs. the utter machine of Halifax. These teams are incredibly even across the board, but there is one little catch that keen eyed readers will have probably picked up by now. Remember how I mentioned in the previous category that Saskatoon is a remarkably top heavy team, and Halifax has 7 players who put up over 70 points in the season? Those points are important because they play a massive role in this series. While there’s no doubt that Longstreet and Box would be able to put up a fair amount of points, the sheer depth and lethality of Halifax cannot be overstated, and because of this, while it will be a close series in the end goal scoring wise, Halifax caps off a perfect playoff run and achieves their dream of bringing home the franchises first ever Founder’s Cup Championship!

 

Prediction: Halifax in 4

 

VSN Vote: Halifax 5, Saskatoon 1

 

This has been an incredibly fun article to write, and it helps that it’s been an incredibly fun season so far! Obviously with predictions, everything should be taken with a grain of salt, but with a great amount of research into stats and using our collective experience, we’re confident in these predictions! I’d like to thank our readers for reaching this point in the article! For VSN, this is Marcus Svedberg, signing off! Happy playoffs everybody!

[McLovin 466]

Also claiming 2/2 because I almost forgot to claim this week

[CaptainSB 117]

Awesome preview! I hope upsets happen!

[Mysterious_Fish 379]

39 minutes ago, McLovin said:

 Miami Marauders (2nd) vs. San Diego Marlins (6th) 

 

Onto our final matchup of the first round, we have Miami facing off against San Diego. This would be a much closer series than I think a lot of people would give it credit for. While the Marauders are an elite team, with some of the best goal scoring and defensive numbers of the regular season, San Diego is right there to match in almost all of those metrics. While Miami has Tim Robinson @Tim Robinson & Phil Sakic @Phil with their near 100 point seasons, San Diego has Nicholas Sunderbruch Jr @NickSunderbruch with his 86 point season, and the absolute wall that is Spider Panda @Ricer13 in net to match. This is going to be a ridiculously close series, and this playoff matchup just goes to show that as long as you’re not in the bottom two of the league standings (looking at you Las Vegas) and are able to make the playoffs, anybody has the chance to be competitive and a series and potentially a name for themselves in the history books. Despite this, it is VSN’s prediction that Miami gets the edge over San Diego and pulls ahead into the second round!

 

Prediction: Miami in 7

 

VSN Vote: Miami 5, San Diego 3

im glad VSN recognizes how close this series will actually be rn series is 2-2 so the series will go to atleast 6 which I call successful because SDM is averaging 17.25 shots through 60 minutes of regulation

[Mysterious_Fish 379]

Just now, Mysterious_Fish said:

im glad VSN recognizes how close this series will actually be rn series is 2-2 so the series will go to atleast 6 which I call successful because SDM is averaging 17.25 shots through 60 minutes of regulation

oh forgot to put in Miami's
Miami is averaging 29 shots after 3 regulation periods (60 minutes)

[ucyXpher 1,408]

Great write up!  I think VSN is a lot more optimistic about Halifax than me, which makes me feel a bit better

 

I feel like Simon’s had it out for me lately…

[JCarson 723]

A lot of good analysis in this article.  Yet I think it fails to take Simon into account.  No way Halifax is running a perfect 12-0 through the playoffs.  They have a really good  chance at winning (they are an excellent team) but my prediction is that they lose at least 1.